Jockstrip: The world as we know it

Prince Charles building eco-friendly home

LONDON, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Britain's Prince Charles has been given permission to build an eco-friendly house that royal watchers say would be perfect for his older son.

The London Telegraph said the eco-friendly six-bedroom house would be built on the grounds of the Duchy of Cornwall's Harewood Park Estate near Wales.

A spokesman for Prince Charles told the newspaper the home was designed to be rented out, but royal watchers say they believe Prince William will make the estate his country residence once he gets married, the newspaper said.

The 8,500 square foot house will be feature a rainwater reservoir, a reed bed sewage system, solar panels, wool insulation and a roof made of salvaged Welsh slate.

Couple accused of blackmailing swingers

EAST HAMPTON, N.Y., Feb. 1 (UPI) -- A Long Island, N.Y., couple is accused in an alleged extortion plot involving people who answered their ads on an adult Web site.

Nassau County police say Michael Largue and Shawn Payne are charged with grand larceny for allegedly advertising for sex partners on a "swingers" Web site, secretly videotaping the ensuing sexual episodes and then threatening to reveal the tapes to families unless they were paid, Newsday reported.

Police are seeking others who may have been victimized in the plot.

Penis prank can be seen from space

SOUTHAMPTON, England, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- The outline of a penis drawn on a lawn by two British teenagers using weed killer can be seen from space through a series of satellite images.

The unidentified teenagers burned the phallus shape onto their school's lawn two years ago. The results sowed up in several satellite photos posted on the Internet recently, Sky News reported.

The 20-foot outline was still so recognizable that it was identified by satellite image search engines.

A spokeswoman for the Bellemoor School for Boys in Southampton, England, said that since the images were taken and posted online at Microsoft Virtual Earth, the school has re-seeded the offending area.

"It was just one of those high school jinks," she said. "This was an act of vandalism that took place during the summer of 2005. Southampton City Council re-seeded the area and the grass was re-grown by the beginning of the new school term."

Swedish police find 11 swans in apartment

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Swedish police investigating reports of an odd smell permeating from an apartment in Stockholm found 11 swans living in the place.

Police found the swans -- and, apparently no humans -- in the apartment in the Kungsholmen district Wednesday, The Local reported.

"When the officers entered the apartment they initially saw two swans," said police spokesman Bjorn Engstrom. "When they looked around they found 11 of them there."

The birds appeared to be well taken care of, said police, who were searching for the woman who loves in the apartment.

Police were checking to see what laws, if any, the woman might have broken.